Review: Word Ladder by Sporcle for iPad

Word Ladder for iPad is the iPad version of the hugely popular word game from the trivia quiz website Sporcle.com. The iPad game is simple and big fun to play if you like word games. Here’s the definition of a word ladder:

First popularized by Lewis Carroll, a word ladder is solved by altering a single letter in a chain of clues.

And here are some of the main features of the app:

NEW FUN EVERY DAY FOR FREE!
Play a new word ladder quiz that is pushed to your device every day. The fun never stops!
PLAY ANYWHERE, ON ANY DEVICE
Network access is not required to play, so have fun while on the train or in the middle of the woods. Word Ladder is optimized for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, so play with any device!

SHOW OFF YOUR SMARTS
Log in to share your scores on Facebook and Sporcle.com. Earn Knowledge Stars and compete with your friends and the world through GameCenter.
PLAY AGAIN AND AGAIN TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE
Track your improvement with your saved play history. See which games you’ve played and your best scores.
BUY A GAME PACK TO INCREASE THE FUN
Don’t want to wait until tomorrow for a new quiz? Buy a game pack have fun for hours!

This game is very basic, with no bells and whistles – it’s just word ladders. And that’s just perfect – it doesn’t need any. The word ladders themselves are more than fun and challenging enough on their own.

When you open the game there are only three buttons:

Play Latest: just as it sounds, takes you to the latest word ladders from today and four days back. Each day a new one is added.

All Games: Access to on Starter Pack of ten more games and seven further game packs with 50 games in each which can be bought via In-App purchase for $0.99 each.

Settings: Here you can create a new account with Sporcle or sign in with an existing one, or send feedback to Sporcle.

It’s a free app but it comes with some quite intrusive full-screen video ads. I say they’re intrusive because they popup between each game and cannot be swiped away or close until they play all the way through. You can get rid of these with an $0.99 In-App purchase.

I’ve only had the game a couple days, but I’ve already burned through all the latest games, the Starter Pack and Game Pack 1. I’ll certainly be buying more game packs very soon. The word ladders are incredibly addicting and this is one of the very best word games for the iPad.

If you enjoy word ladders, or word games in general, then you really need to give this game a go.